Hello team,
I’m experiencing an issue where the camera ID in Tulip occasionally changes—most likely due to how Windows handles USB devices. When this happens, the station behaves as if the camera isn’t configured, and we have to manually reassign it.
Has anyone else encountered this? Any ideas on how to make the camera configuration persistent?
Hey Christopher -
When you say the camera ID occasionally changes, are you referring to the com port ID?
@jmlowden posted this handy show and tell for how he checks which devices are connected to his app and then loops through connecting them so it is a bit more dynamic. Serial (Looped) Connection of Serial Devices I’m wondering if this would help you at all here?
Hello Beth,
thanks for taking the time, but I mean the camera id, you can see it in the station section under devices you will see interface, cameras , edge devices and connected devices it looks like this “Camera ID: (ID “\?\swd#escl#4509a320-0090-0041-004a-00250750ad88”)”
current id
previous id
Ah I see, if the device path changes, it appears a new camera to Tulip, which is what you are seeing here.
This is the unique system ID that Windows assigns to the device when it is inserted. This ID is one sure-fire way to tell the devices apart in a running system - like if you have two identical cameras plugged in at the same time. And, depending on the hardware subsystem, you often need this path to open and access the device. It also has the information to tie that device to additional information in the Windows Registry.
This shouldn’t change if the computer stays powered on and the device remains plugged in. If you remove the device and insert it into a different port, the ID usually changes as Windows seems to tie the port info into the ID, in some undocumented way. Sometimes, if you plug it back into the same port you get the same ID, but I don’t know if this is guaranteed in any way.
Couple questions for you:
What are you doing when the ID changes? Removing and re-inserting the camera? Just power cycling the computer? Or do they see it change while the device is on and plugged in?
